Edward's Arm and Winry's Heart
by Floydgoneawry
Summary: Ed needs to make a trip back home . . . in more than one piece.
1. Prologue

Ed was not excited about coming back this time.

He was never particularly thrilled about doing so, but he  
knew this time would come with a beating and a lecture.

It was not like he planned to have his arm cut in half.

The mission just got a little more complicated then he had  
expected.

The military suspected a gang of thieves were stealing  
firearms from a warehouse. A perfectly boring mission,  
according to Ed, and not worth his time.

_"What does a stakeout have to do with the Sorcerer's  
Stone?" Ed screamed at the aggravatingly stoic colonel who  
was peering at him from behind his gloved, interlocked fingers  
only a few hours before the raid._

_"The military is not just here to fund your treasure-hunting  
ventures. We decide where you go when necessary."_

_"So the answer is 'nothing,'" Ed decided while glaring at his  
superior officer._

_"I'm glad we came to an understanding, Fullmetal. Now go."_

_Instead of giving him any further satisfaction in knowing he  
was aggravated, Ed chose to take his frustration out on the  
colonel's door as he left the room by slamming it behind him…_

_…several times._

"Okay, Al…the Colonel didn't exactly say what we were  
supposed to do in there," the blonde said as he watched a  
gang of men break in, "So I guess that means we don't  
have to worry about breaking anything."

"Brother! It's a military warehouse. There could be  
expensive equipment inside."

"Yeah, he-he. I hope I get to see the colonel's face when  
he sees the price of the damage."

When full attention was once again given to the situation  
at hand, Edward simply decided to charge in, with a  
hesitant Alphonse behind him, and burst through the  
warehouse doors.

That is when everything went wrong.


	2. Broken

Edward Elric opened the door slowly, trying to be perfectly  
silent.

"Good to see the damage is fixable," Pinako said from  
behind the open door.

Ed jumped from the unwarranted response before calming  
down again, only glad that he did not meet Winry first. He  
put the unattached half of his arm down on the small table  
next to the door.

"Things got a little involved," he said with his left hand  
behind his head. "It really wasn't my fault."

"It never is Ed. I'll get my tools. I'm sure your leg needs  
adjusting too."

"Hey, Granny, i-is Winry around?"

"You broke it."

Ed almost leapt out of his skin upon hearing this quiet  
sentence.

Winry was standing right behind him, her bangs hiding her  
eyes. She had picked up the other half of the arm and was  
holding it in both hands, examining the damage.

"Technically the guy with the machete broke it," he said,  
trying to make the situation a little more humourous.

Winry flipped it over in her hands, studying the perfectly  
clean cut in the arm without saying a word.

"I-I even brought it here for you. I know you probably want  
to know how he did it," he said with a hint of nervous  
laughter.

He held out the oversized knife, hoping this small offering  
would appease her and get him out of a potential  
thrashing, but suddenly thought better of _handing_ her a  
sharp object and put his arm down.

Winry still said nothing.

Ed did not like this. When she yelled and threw things, he  
at least knew that her mind was solely occupied with those  
tasks. Now she was quiet and he had no idea what she  
could be thinking.

"Move, Edward."

The uneasy smile disappeared from his face and he walked  
as quickly as he could to the nearest chair.

Winry followed, a little slower.

Ed still could not see her eyes.

What was she feeling?

Was she angry with him?

Did she understand?

Was a greater storm just beyond the horizon?

Whatever it was, Ed did not like it.

He stretched his left arm out so she could measure from  
the center of his back to his fingertips.

After taking careful measure, Winry spoke.

"I see you haven't grown."

Ed did not reply in the usual way. He somehow knew her  
words were meant as a jab.

"Sit."

He dropped to the chair and braced himself as Winry  
loosened the bolts that held what was left of the arm in  
place. Pain moved up and down his side as it came off.

Winry picked up the two pieces of the former arm.

"Wait here," she commanded. Her voice was still at a  
frighteningly quiet range.

She walked with very deliberate steps to her room and  
disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned, Winry  
was holding a brand new arm.

"I guess you knew I might need another one soon," Ed  
started, trying to coax more then a few syllables out of the  
blonde.

Nothing.

Winry went straight to work placing the arm in the socket  
and making the necessary adjustments. She had a  
screwdriver in her mouth and was using her wrench to  
tighten one of the main bolts.

"Hold this," she mumbled, and forced the wrench sideways  
into Ed's mouth. While she reached for the screwdriver, Ed  
went to take the wrench with his hand. Instead, Winry  
plucked it from his grasp and set it back in his mouth.

This time, he chose not to fight it.

Winry just needed to finish a few more minor touches,  
double checking to make sure every screw was in place,  
and then retrieved her wrench.

With a little more force then necessary, the mechanic  
tightened the final bolt, unconcerned by Ed's slight gasp in  
pain.


	3. Wreckage

Ed was resting on the couch when the door to Winry's  
workroom slammed open.

He jumped at the sight of her in the doorway. She was  
holding two pieces of thin metal in her right hand. Very  
slowly, she walked to Ed and, grabbing him by the shirt,  
pulled him up to look at the pieces.

"Do you know what this is, Edward?"

"I-I don't know, Winry. You know I'm not good with this  
stuff."

"This is a bar used to temporarily strengthen automail,"  
she explained without his asking.

"So you put one of those in my old arm and forgot to take  
it out?" he tried to reason with a nervous laugh.

"I would never make a half-assed repair with one of these,  
Edward, and, even if I did, I would never use one marked  
'Property of the State Military.'"

'Oh shit.'

"Were they a good mechanic? They must have been if you  
chose them over me."

"W-W-Winry…" Ed tried to defend.

"Apparently I haven't been doing a good enough job for  
you," she began, her quiet voice growing sharp and cold.  
"Hold still, Edward."

Without warning, Winry forced Ed to the floor and pinned  
him down so that his arm was pointing up.

"Wait! Winry!"

The girl would have none of it.

Winry brandished her wrench and, starting with his fingers,  
proceeded to dismantle his arm piece by miniscule piece.  
Nuts and bolts fell and hit him in the head as she worked.  
Now and then, a drop of water would accompany the  
pieces that rained down on his face.

Winry kept going until Ed was left in a wasteland of nuts,  
screws, and metalwork.

'How did she manage to do that with just a wrench?'

Winry stood up over him. She hid her eyes by looking away.

"You're such a jerk," she whispered before turning to run  
back to the open door. "You better have that all put back  
together by the time I come out," she said coldly over her  
shoulder before slamming the door closed.


	4. Devastation

'Geez, the way she fusses over this stuff. You'd think  
these arms were her children,' Ed thought as he tried  
desperately to make something out of the mess around  
him; his pitiful attempt yielding little more then a shoddy  
Ferris wheel.

The alchemist did not notice Pinako walk into the room.

"I suppose I should be grateful that she kept your leg  
intact," she said nonchalantly while puffing her pipe.

"Great, you're here," he said, stumbling as he tried to  
stand. "Could you help me?"

She took a draw on the pipe before answering.

"I'm afraid not, Ed. This is between you and Winry."

"But this is impossible!" he yelled, mostly to himself. "How  
can she expect me to fix this?"

Pinako watched with little interest, her eyes half closed, as  
she waited for his fit to pass.

"I personally don't think she expects you to rebuild it. This  
isn't the first time you've come home like this. I think she  
wanted to vent some frustration."

"But why? I don't mean to break the automail you two  
make for me! It just happens!"

Again she waited for him to stop before continuing.

"Ed, do you need your right arm?"

"Of course I do! What kind of crazy question is that?"

"But you don't have one."

There was a moment of silence as he stood with his mouth  
agape.

"I don't get it!" Ed cried in frustration. "What are you trying  
to say?"

"How many times are you in a position where the only  
thing between you and danger is that arm?"

"A lot I guess. Where are you going with this?"

"I'm saying that if that arm fails, it's like Winry also fails."

"That's not true! She's the reason I'm alive today!"

"That's not how she sees it, Ed," Pinako sighed. "Every  
time you come back in more then one piece, you bring back  
her failures. You drop them in front of her and say 'do a  
better job this time' and wait around while she tries to fix  
her past mistakes."

She took another draw from her pipe and continued,  
"Winry knows that there are times when she's practically  
the only thing between you and whatever's out there, and  
she's terrified that one day her failure will bring you back  
here in a pine box."

These words hit him harder than any wrench.

He never thought of his arm as anything but replaceable.

For the first time, he looked at the pieces surrounding him  
as Winry's love and concern. That arm was like having  
Winry on the battlefield with him. She always fussed over  
each and every aspect because she knew that any  
imperfection might cost him more than an inconvenient trip  
to Risembool.

Pinako turned to leave before adding an unnecessary quip.

"A _tiny_ pine box."


	5. Damage

When the door opened three days later, Ed was still amid  
the wreckage that once made up a work of prosthetic art.

Winry held a new arm in her hand and, as before, she kept  
her eyes hidden by her bangs.

She stalked over to her friend and his futile attempt to  
reconstruct her work.

"Winry I-"

Without a word, she struck him with the back of the metal  
hand and had him back down in the position that had  
caused him three days of painful experimentation.

With no concern for his agony, Winry slammed the arm into  
its socket and tightened the screws and bolts.

She then grabbed his shirt and forced Ed to look into her  
eyes for the first time since coming home.

They were dark, bloodshot, and tired but also sharp and  
focused. They were puffy with little bags under  
them.

"This is stronger and more complex than anything I have  
made before," she declared, sternly through gritted teeth.  
"It requires fine tuning and adjustments that only I can  
make; not some grease-monkey from the motor-pool. This  
is the finest piece of automail you will ever find. If you  
break this I will break you."

With that, she let go of him and stood up. Winry calmly  
walked to her room.

"Where are you going?" he asked, some pain and shock in  
his voice as he stretched his new arm and rubbed the  
place metal met skin.

"Where do you think? I've been awake for three days,"  
she shot back, "I'm going to sleep you jerk!"


	6. Mending

It was time for him to leave, but Winry had yet to come  
from her room.

Ed knew that walking in on her could be potentially fatal,  
but he also knew that he could not leave without saying  
goodbye.

As quietly as possible, he opened her door and peeked in  
on Winry's sleeping form.

The blonde recoiled from the shaft of light that fell over her  
bed. She rolled away and pulled the covers closer around  
her.

Ed crept in and stood by her bedside.

"W-Winry…I," he began softly, "I have to go but…but I  
wanted to say…I just want to say…"

He dropped to his knees and rested his elbows on the  
bed. His hands were clasped tightly together.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry, Winry."

He paused as he took a breath.

"I'm sorry I never realized how much you cared. I'm sorry  
that I made you feel like your work was replaceable. I…I  
need you, Winry. You're the reason I'm alive today. I need  
you. I need you."

Ed no longer tried to hold back the tears. He let his head  
fall into his palms.

He felt Winry's hand rest lightly on his head.

He tried to move away, but she pulled him to her chest.

She held him gently as he cried and it was almost a minute  
before he realized that his right ear was against the bare  
skin over her heart and his cheek was against the blonde's  
bare breasts.

"W-Winry–"

"Just keep your eyes closed."

They stayed close together for a few minutes. When he felt  
her kiss him on top of his head, he somehow knew that it  
was time for him to leave.

With his eyes still closed and cheeks a deep crimson, he  
stood and walked slowly from the room.

"Come back safe, Ed."


	7. Epilogue: Do Not Read

The countryside was a barren wasteland. Fields that were  
once lusciously green were now upturned and rocky. The  
military had come through and laid waste to the land as  
they pursued the Ishval rebels.

Winry crawled through a hidden doorway from the  
basement beneath the rubble she once called her house.  
She, like her parents before her, moved about the  
battlefield giving aid to anyone still able to benefit from it.

She was a mechanic, but the patients who came to her  
occasionally needed emergency care before she could help  
them. She could save lives just like they did; no matter  
what the cost.

She remembered the night Alphonse brought Edward into  
her house.

Winry ran from person to person, checking for vital signs  
and passing over those who were too far gone. It was a  
painful choice, but she had to reserve her time and medical  
supplies for those who would live through the ordeal.

She ran to the next casualty and dropped her gear beside  
them. It was only after she opened her bag that she  
looked at the person's face.

"Winry."

Her blood ran cold as she stared down at the boy  
beneath her.

His uniform was caked in blood and his automail arm was  
shattered into millions of tiny pieces. His eyes were dilated  
and voice shaky as he lifted his left arm to her face and  
spoke to her. Everything must have been just a dream to  
him as his life slipped away.

"I'm broken, Winry," he whimpered, "Help."

She stroked his hair out of his face, tears falling on him as  
she made her decision.

Maybe it would have been different if the fighting had  
ended sooner. Their lives would have been happier.

"It's okay," she whispered and pulled a syringe from her  
bag, "I'm here. I'll take care of you."

She pushed the syringe into an empty bottle and filled the  
tube with air. Her hands shook as she pierced the skin of his  
neck.

"You have the most beautiful wings."

Winry had some difficulty choking out the next sentence.

"Just relax. It won't hurt anymore."

I'm so sorry . . .


End file.
